Composer and Conductor Ennio Morricone Suffers Back Injury; Postpones LA, Brooklyn Shows to June 2014

The Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who turned 85 in November, has suffered a back injury that has forced the postponement of concerts originally dated March 20 in Los Angeles and March 23 in Brooklyn. The shows have been rescheduled for June 13 at Cushman & Wakefield Theater at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and June 15 at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, where he will conduct an ensemble of 200 musicians and singers in performances of his legendary film scores. The concerts will be, respectively, his first New York appearance since 2007 and his first-ever Los Angeles concert.

Maestro Morricone has undergone an operation to repair a slipped disc, and his doctor has advised him not to travel long distances in the immediate future to ensure a full recovery. Morricone remarked,

"It saddens me deeply to have to postpone these concerts. I am very much looking forward to my first Los Angeles performance and only my second New York City performance, both of which are almost sold out. Hollywood has been instrumental in bringing my work to American audiences, and my 2007 performance in New York was one of the high points of my career to date. I'm grateful and sorry to my fans for having to delay these shows. I'll miss you, and I look forward to seeing you soon."

Tickets to the original performance will be honored at the rescheduled performance. A full refund is available to those who cannot attend the rescheduled performance via the original point of purchase through May 1st.

In New York, BAMcine?matek will pay tribute to Morricone, as scheduled, with a four-film series (The Music of Morricone, Mar 20-22) featuring Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), John Carpenter's The Thing (1983), Roland Joffe?'s The Mission (1986), and Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1965). Morricone was scheduled to make a rare in-person appearance at BAMcine?matek on March 22 at 5:30pm to introduce a screening of Once Upon a Time in the West. His appearance has been rescheduled timed to his new performance date.

This year Morricone was honored with the Recording Academy Grammy Trustees Award; in 2007 he received the Academy Honorary Award "in recognition of his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music" from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ennio Morricone has composed a staggering body of music over the course of his seven-decade career, including scores for more than 450 films: A Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly; Once Upon a Time in the West and A Fistful of Dynamite; The Battle of Algiers; Sacco and Vanzetti; Cinema Paradiso; 1900, Malena; The Untouchables; Once Upon A Time in America; The Mission; U-Turn; The Unknown Woman; and The Best Offer, among hundreds of others.

More About Ennio Morricone - Born in Rome on November 10, 1928, Ennio Morricone started his film-composing career in 1961 with Il Federale, directed by Luciano Salce. Morricone's scores for Sergio Leone's westerns launched him to worldwide fame. Since that time, Morricone has composed music for films by directors including Pedro Almodovar, Warren Beatty, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma, Roland Joffe?, Adrian Lyne, Giuliano Montaldo, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roman Polanski, Gillo Pontecorvo, Oliver Stone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Margarethe Von Trotta, Henry Verneuil and Lina Wertmuller.

In 2007, Morricone received the honorary award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for his "magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He has been nominated for five Academy Awards; inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for the soundtrack album of The Good The Bad and the Ugly; and won Grammy Awards for the soundtracks to Once Upon a Time in the West and The Untouchables; won Golden Globe awards for his scores for The Mission and 1900; the ASCAP lifetime achievement award; the career achievement award from the Film Music Society; and has to his credit 27 Gold and six Platinum records.

Morricone has composed over 100 pieces of concert music since 1946, including Concerto per Orchestra n.1 (1957); Frammenti di Eros (1985); Cantata per L'Europa (1988); UT, per tromba, archi e percussioni (1991); Ombra di Lontana Presenza (1997); Voci dal Silenzio (2002); Sicilo ed altri Frammenti (2006); Vuoto D'Anima Piena (2008); and Una Messa (2013).

Since 2001, Morricone has engaged in intense concert activity, and has conducted more than 100 concerts in Europe, Asia, the United States, and in Central and South America of his film music and concert works. On February 2, 2007, Morricone conducted Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra in a major concert at the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate the appointment of UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, followed the next day by his historic United States debut at Radio City Music Hall, in a concert produced by Massimo Gallotta, the producer of the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE and Barclays Center concerts.

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